1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to computer systems, and more particularly to a user interface for allowing the user to easily and intuitively set speaker volume levels and power conservation levels in a battery-powered computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal computers are being utilized with greater and greater frequency. With the rise of new software applications, such as graphical user interface applications, more and more people are beginning to use personal computers. Many of these people have not had experience using or operating personal computers. These new users are not in a group which has been using computers for many years and has become experienced with applications which use command lines for entry and control, such as those applications under operating systems such as CP/M or MS/DOS or on mainframe applications, where complicated command structures and input requirements are common. To properly utilize those operating systems or computers the user had to become familiar with the complicated commands that were required. As a user became experienced, the command structures became familiar. However, these commands were often a great struggle for neophyte users and therefore limited the actual use of the computer and its various features and functions for those novice users. Thus there was and is a major interest in developing interface capabilities which are much more intuitive and easier to use without requiring reference to bound manuals.
This ease of use has been one of the large moving forces behind the increased trend towards the graphical user interface as popularized by the Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh personal computer. The user interface was designed to be very intuitive, so that very little reference to a written manual was actually needed but instead most of the instructions and operating techniques could be developed directly from the user interface itself, sometimes just merely by a common arrangement and at other times by referencing on-screen help. This graphical user interface has migrated to personal computers compatible with the IBM PC with the development of the Windows program by Microsoft Corp. and to UNIX-based machines through the Open Look and X Windows standards.
It is desirable to continue this trend to other functions available in personal computers. One function which is commonly available in personal computers is a speaker having variable output levels so that the speaker volume can be changed. However, this is typically done using a command line option where an arbitrary speaker volume number is given following a command. However, merely providing the number does not provide feedback to the user as to whether the desired volume level was actually set. The user would then run the chosen application program. When the first beep occurred, the user would then know if the level was correct. If the level was not at the desired point, the user would have to retry the volume procedure, entering a different volume number. This sequence was continued until the desired level was reached. It is desirable to have a much more intuitive and user friendly approach for setting speaker volume level.
One type of computer that is becoming very popular is the battery powered notebook computer. These are relatively small computers not much larger than a sheet of paper and which weigh in the range of 4 to 8 pounds. They contain liquid crystal display (LCD) screens, hard disk drives, floppy disk drives, internal modems and numerous other devices and capabilities previously found just in desktop units. One problem with notebook computers is that they are battery powered and all of the features of the units draw power. For instance, the LCD with its flourescent lights used to provide backlighting are a major draw of power. Similarly, the hard disk drive draws a large amount of power, as does the modem and the floppy disk drive. One response to this power consumption problem has been to provide the capability to shut off various devices when not in use. One example of this is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,836 for Apparatus for Reducing Computer System Power Consumption. In units according to the patent, when no user activity is determined to be occurring, the unit automatically shuts down the hard disk drive, the floppy disk drive, the modem, the display and other circuit elements. This capability to shutdown portions of the unit when not needed is referred to as power conservation. In some versions the actual shutdown delay times were made programmable. The times were changed by running a power conservation utility program called at the operating system command line, which program then provided a list of the various time options, i.e. the hard disk drive delay time and so on, which values were then set by the user. These delay time values are generally stored in CMOS or battery backed-up memory for later reference and are then applied as the timeout values for the appropriate power down features. However, only one level or setting of the power conservation time delay values was available. To change settings the user had to perform the sequence mentioned above. But this was difficult to use under varying conditions and require a large amount of user knowledge to optimize for a particular case. Thus it would be desirable to have numerous levels of power conservation depending upon the user's particular requirements and desires, and it would be desirable to be readily able to distinguish between the level of power conservation selected.